Netherlands-based Mars One hopes to establish the first human settlement on Mars in 2023. It has created a technical plan for this ambitious mission that is “as simple as possible” and says it has identified potential suppliers, such as SpaceX, for every component of the mission.

Mars One plans to fund the mission by making it a reality TV show, in the “biggest media spectacle in history” with help from Mars One ambassador Paul Römer, co-creator of the globally successful Big Brother reality TV show (a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world). Everyone will get to watch the astronauts make their journey, and also choose which candidate gets to go (as in the Big Brother show).

Here’s the plan

2013: Crowdsourced selection of first four astronauts; a replica of the Mars settlement built in the desert to help the astronauts prepare and train, and to test the equipment — all carried on TV.

Simulated Mars base (credit: Mars One)

2014: Production of the first Mars communication satellite.

2016: Supply mission launched for Mars — to land October 2016 with its cargo: 2500 kilograms of food.

Supply mission (credit: Mars One)

2018: Robotic exploration vehicle lands on Mars to pick best location for the settlement.

Mars One rover (credit: Mars One)

2021: . Two living units, two life support units, a second supplies unit and another rover create a habitable settlement.

Robots create Mars colony habitation (credit: Mars One)

2022: Liftoff on the future SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy.

2023: Landing on a lander built by SpaceX, likely a special variant of the Dragon capsule.

2025: Second group of four astronauts lands.

“Mars One is an extraordinarily daring initiative by people with vision and imagination,” says Mars One Ambassador and physics Nobel prize winner Gerard ‘t Hooft. “This project seems to me to be the only way to fulfill dreams of mankind’s expansion into space.”

Mars One founder is entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, co-founder of Ampyx Power, a technology start-up company that is developing the PowerPlane, a device that can extract energy from the wind more economically than wind turbines.

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This is obviously a clever scam to trick people into donating money and buying merchandise (see their website)–or at least I hope it is. If it isn’t, then it is a heavily misguided and, In my view, immoral venture. It has long been my childhood dream (and it still is, mind you) to put a man on mars just as Neil Armstrong made that first step onto the moon. But it is ridiculous not to bring those people back. Are you kidding me? And what about the massive challenges due to the radiation once you leave the earth’s magnetic field? For nine months? Have you even considered this? These people will die, assuming that this isn’t a massive pyramid scheme. And that’s wrong. Shame on you, Space One, regardless of whether you are frauds or not. If you can’t bring them back, I have no interest in funding you, and I hope you never lift a single unfortunate soul off of the ground.

I dreamed of going into space since I was a boy and I never lost that dream. What better person to send into space than a middle aged man who has enjoyed a long and healthy life on Earth and is approaching the inevitable end of it. By all means, use me as a human guinea pig and send me to Mars or on a voyage of no return to the nearest star. If it should spell my demise then so be it. What a magnificent way to go…

Or on the way there. They better start digging when they land and have lots of chemotherapy on hand. I don’t think I’d like watching people die a slow or quick death on TV, but I’m sure a lot of people would.

You know the reason people watch Big Brother and the like, is to watch stupid, evil people behave in stupid and evil ways. Hardly anyway to found a new civilization.

When people on Mars have to be rational and efficient the viewers will quickly tire of the show. Can’t really use landscape pictures to keep the attention, Mars is rather dull. Back in the days of the Apollo program they lost the audience in 4 or 5 trips only.

Right now is a good time to make a space-based reality show. Interest in space from the general public has greatly increased, if not as much as during the space race. I just hope that the show would be able to hold that interest for, literally, a lifetime.

Once the get onto the planet, they won’t be abandoned for lack of funds if the past is any indication, more likely a group will form to send supply ships, whether its in the Netherlands, the US, or elsewhere.

However, living on mars presents many problems other than need for supplies currently on Earth, such as meteors, long-term exposure to radiation that is normally weakened by the magnetosphere and ozone layer on Earth, and machine failure.

To minimize risk, all living units should contain radiation shields, material for which could be taken from the Mars landscape. Mars bound asteroids should be tracked to the ground as well as our current equipment allows, and the settlement shouldn’t be built anywhere near projected impact sites. Preferably, the “buildings” could be moved if a new meteor threat is detected. And, of course, all systems should have as much redundancy as possible.

@Mark re “This “show” can’t just be cancelled if it’s a ratings flop.”

I hope they are betting on success.

@Carbone re “This [crowdsourced selection of astronauts] will be the whole reality show then it gets canned.”

Of course there is this possibility and, even worse, perhaps this is the real business plan. In today’s scamonomy, I wouldn’t be surprised. But let’s stay optimist for a while, I totally love this project.

I love the notion but funding this through a reality tv show is a pathetic joke. This “show” can’t just be cancelled if it’s a ratings flop. The colony might not be self sustaining for decades, which means lots of expensive resupply missions. And if there are insufficient funds for resupply, people die. That’s not the kind of reality show any sane person wants to watch.

The challenges for colonists on Mars will dwarf those faced by the early Dutch and English colonists in North America — and they died like flies. A project like this can’t be planned on a shoestring. Massive redundancy and triple or quadruple cost overruns must be anticipated (and then doubled again in all probability). And if the Mars One company goes bankrupt on Earth, will there be an insurance policy to help finance efforts by whatever government/private agency responsible for keeping the colonists alive? I don’t know… It’s a pretty idea but is not as easy as they would like us to believe.

If I could be part of the colonization of Mars, I would go even if the probability of dying is very high. But “no matter how many deaths” is not a nice thing to say, especially if it includes persons who have not freely chosen the risk.

The trip time still sounds like the traditional time it takes to get to mars now. But with testing of the VASMR plasma engine soon with the supposed capability to cut down the trip to less than 40 days, it might not take as long.